Swimming with the Razorfishes

Friday, March 18, 2005

Aahhhh...much better. Mr. UPS man made a visit this morning, dropping of a pair of Future Sonics EARS (EM3s). My quest for iPod headphones is a little closer to completion.

The EM3s sound good. Still not as flat or pleasing as Sennheiser 590s, but pretty good.

The bad: there is some serious roll off in high frequencies and a disturbing hump in the upper-mids. I think this is where their stage monitor heritage becomes evident.

The good: Bass. Nice, clear bass reproduction, if not a little over-emphasized. being a bass player, though, I'm happy to have the basslines stand out a bit. Low frequencies are clear and accurate. Nice.

The interesting: The ear pads seem to be made of the same material as those cheap foam earplugs, so they attenuate a serious amount of ambient noise. This might make them somewhat better than others for subway use.

These Future Sonics headphones are not excellent, but they are very listenable, particularly for in-ear phones. I'll play with these for a while, but I think I'm still going to get a set of ER-4Ps.

At the age of sixteen, young Saint Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish men and transported to Ireland. He turned to religion during the following six years of captivity. Responding to the voice of God, Patrick escaped and fled to England. A second voice, this time from an angel, told Patrick to return to Ireland as a missionary. In his remaining time, he spread Christianity across Ireland and incorporated Irish traditions into the Christian religion. It is believed that St. Patrick's jawbone is preserved in a silver shrine, and is able to ward off the evil eye.

What better way to celebrate the life and death of Saint Patrick than to place flashing green lights on our heads and drink a great deal in public? Enjoy the day, people.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

I'm on a (so-far fruitless) quest for a high quality in-ear headphone. It really is a quest. So far I've tried four different models (including two copies of one model), but haven't found a particularly good set.

I'm trying to replace my old set of Sony Fontopia MDR-EX71SL headphones. When I purchased my original set, I was surprised by the even, good quality sound. The only reason I'm replacing them is that I've entirely worn them out.

My first instinct was to replace them with another pair of the same model. Unfortunately, I've bought two replacement pairs and both have much, much worse sound than the original set. Terrible, harsh mid-highs and steep bass dropoff.

My last purchase was a pair of Yahba Opus "extended bass response" headphones. What crap. Don't even bother. Total junk sound.

My benchmark is the set of Sennheiser 590s that sits on my head all day long. If I could get 75% of their quality, I'd be entirely happy.

I think I'm going to break down and get a set of Etymotic ER-6is. I'd love to get a set of ER-4s, but I don't think an iPod can really drive them.

Ten months after the MTA first warned photographers to prepare to keep their lenses covered when descending into the subway, the agency board has not passed its controversial ban on unauthorized photography.

"It's in limbo," said Paul Fleuranges, a spokesman for NYC Transit. "In light of the public's comments, it's being reviewed."

Fleuranges anticipated the MTA's full board, which must approve the ban, would not vote before its April meeting. Concerned about terrorism, the MTA first proposed the ban in May 2004 as part of a larger change of transit rules that would also prohibit walking between cars while a train is in motion. [via New York Newsday]